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Browse major news stories and see what officials have said.

Sep 1, 2026

The Trump Administration Brings a Sanctioned Russian Finance Minister to a G20 Meeting on American Soil — Europe Refuses the Family Photo and Shaheen Says the White House Is Handing Putin a Platform

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov — sanctioned by the United States in April 2022 — attended the U.S.-hosted G20 finance ministers' meeting in Asheville, North Carolina on August 31, 2026. It was his first in-person G20 appearance since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and he was there at the Trump administration's invitation. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met Siluanov bilaterally on the sidelines. According to Reuters, when Siluanov raised areas of possible cooperation, Bessent cut him off, saying nothing was possible until the war ends. European finance ministers objected loudly: German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil called the invitation "quite troubling" and said he would not pose for a photo with his Russian counterpart, and Siluanov was ultimately left out of the traditional family photo. Trump defended the invitation the next day. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, tied the episode directly to the stalled Russia sanctions bill that the Senate passed 86-11 in August and that the House has not taken up. The meeting landed the same week Russian strikes killed civilians in Kyiv for a sixth consecutive day.

“We like getting along with everybody. One of the reasons that I’m so successful, I get along with everybody.”
Donald Trump (R-FL) · Sep 1, 2026

Ten Days Before the 25th Anniversary of 9/11, DHS Is Still Holding Back $87 Million of New York’s Counterterrorism Money — the Governor Calls It "Defunding the Police" and the Homeland Security Secretary Says Sanctuary States Should Not Get "One Federal Penny"

Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani appeared together in midtown Manhattan on September 1, 2026 to demand that the Department of Homeland Security release roughly $87 million in federal counterterrorism grant money that New York says it is still owed — about 40 percent of the state's expected allocation. New York was originally cut by $187 million, some 86 percent of what it expected. A federal court order restored roughly $100 million of that, but state and city officials say the remaining shortfall still hits NYPD counterterrorism and intelligence operations, FDNY specialized teams, National Guard deployments and bomb squads. Hochul turned the administration's own slogan back on it, saying that withholding the money amounts to "defunding the police." The state's congressional Democrats — Schumer, Gillibrand, Jeffries, Nadler, Goldman, Meng, Morelle, Latimer, Mannion and Kennedy — pressed the same point, repeatedly invoking the approaching 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. DHS answered that New York is sitting on $300 million in unspent FEMA money, and Secretary Markwayne Mullin said separately that he does not think sanctuary jurisdictions should receive "one federal penny."

“Donald Trump repeatedly claimed to be the law-and-order President. Instead, he has visited lawlessness and disorder upon the American people.”
Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) · Sep 1, 2026

After Two Record-Breaking Shutdowns in Ten Months, the Senate Votes 90-6 to Fund the Government Past the Midterms — and Pushes the Real Fight to December 11

Government funding was set to lapse at midnight on September 30, 2026, which would have opened a shutdown on October 1 — four and a half weeks before the November 3 midterm elections. On Sunday, August 2, Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) and Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) released the text of a continuing resolution holding most agencies at current levels through December 11. The Senate passed it 90-6 in the early hours of Saturday, August 8, before leaving for the August recess. The bill is a stopgap, but it is not a clean one. Democrats won three things House Republicans' version did not contain: language closing a transfer loophole that would have let the administration move money appropriated for other programs into Border Patrol; a temporary block on a proposed OMB rule giving senior political appointees a larger role in reviewing and cancelling federal grants; and rejection of the White House's request for $1 billion to begin work on the new "Trump-class" battleship. It also carries adjustments for WIC, shipbuilding and the Disaster Relief Fund. The six no votes were an unusual left-right pairing — Cassidy, Paul, Kaine, Markey, Warren and Sanders — with progressives objecting to funding the administration's agenda at all and fiscal conservatives objecting to another stopgap. Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) said voting yes would be "signing a check for President Trump to continue his illegal, reckless agenda." The politics behind the 90-6 margin are straightforward: the country has already been through three funding lapses in a year, including a four-day shutdown from January 31 to February 3 and a record 76-day DHS lapse from February to late April. Neither party wanted a fourth one running through the campaign. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) framed it as owing the public predictability. What the vote does not do is settle anything. It moves the deadline to December 11 — after the election, into a lame-duck session, with the OMB grants rule, immigration enforcement funding, hemp-derived THC products and the unfinished full-year appropriations bills all still live. Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), asked what it would take to finish a budget by then, listed "whiffs of frozen hell, donkeys flying." The House still has to pass the measure when members return in September before it reaches the President's desk.

“House Republicans are in charge here, and we’re continuing to do the grown-up thing and make sure we get the job done. And we’re happy that we just passed that continuing resolution to fund the government through early December, and then we’ll continue through the process after the election.”
Mike Johnson (R-LA) · Sep 1, 2026

Two Fatal ICE Shootings in Houston and Maine Trigger Senate Demands for Body Cameras and Vetting Answers

Two people were killed by federal immigration officers in July 2026, neither of whom was the target of the operation that killed them. On July 7, ICE officers shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican national, during a traffic stop in Houston as he was on his way to work. On July 13, officers shot and killed Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 26-year-old Colombian national, in his car near his home in Biddeford, Maine, after ICE attempted a vehicle stop; DHS said the officer fired "fearing for public safety," while Sen. Angus King's office said Durán Guerrero was not the target of the warrant. The Associated Press subsequently reported that the ICE officer who fired in Maine, David Brouillette, had a documented history of serious mental health problems and violent behavior toward family members recorded in family court files. On July 20, Sen. Angus King (I-ME) led a letter signed by 38 Democratic senators demanding that DHS explain its vetting and training of new agents and its vehicle pursuit policies, and calling for body cameras to be issued to all officers. ICE subsequently pulled back on vehicle stops. At least 10 people have died in encounters with immigration agents since the start of the administration's crackdown.

“It's for our safety and the public safety, too.”
Markwayne Mullin (R) · Sep 1, 2026

A Trump Adviser Calls Five Black Women in Public Life "Ghetto, Entitled, Race-Obsessed" — and the First Republican to Denounce Her Is the One Trump Wants Primaried

On Friday, August 28, 2026, Laura Loomer — the far-right activist and longtime Trump ally whose recommendations have repeatedly preceded firings inside the administration — posted on X that Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon, Reps. Ilhan Omar and Ayanna Pressley, former Rep. Cori Bush and Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson are "all ghetto, entitled, race-obsessed, destructive black BITCHES who are completely unfit for the power they hold." Nixon, who won Florida's Democratic Senate primary in August, answered directly. Loomer doubled down on Monday, August 31, calling Nixon "a ghetto, black, communist" and telling her "you speak Ebonics though, so maybe I need to bark at you and tug your leash." The condemnation ran across party lines, but not in the usual direction. The first Republican voice was former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene — herself the target of a Trump-backed primary threat — who on Sunday, August 30, said she "1000% denounce[s]" Loomer and put the blame on the party that keeps her close. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries followed on Monday, calling Loomer "a stone-cold racist, pathological liar and nutjob" and demanding every Republican end their relationship with her. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Rep. Rashida Tlaib also weighed in. The White House did not respond to Reuters' request for comment on Loomer's remarks. No sitting Republican member of Congress publicly denounced her in the first four days.

“Every single Republican should denounce her vile behavior and end their relationship with this extremist immediately.”
Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) · Aug 31, 2026

Trump Adds Nine More Drugmakers to His Most-Favored-Nation Pricing Deals and Asks Congress to Write Them Into Law — and His Health Secretary Says the President Called Him and Dr. Oz "Every Hour of the Day" and Made Clear Their Jobs Depended on It

On Monday, August 31, 2026, President Trump announced from the White House that nine more pharmaceutical manufacturers — Alcon, Astellas Pharma, BeOne Medicines, BridgeBio, CSL, Kyowa Kirin, Sun Pharma, Teva Pharmaceuticals and UCB — had agreed to "most-favored-nation" pricing, under which state Medicaid programs pay the lowest price the manufacturer charges in a comparable wealthy country. That brings the running total to 26 companies, which the White House says covers roughly 89 to 90 percent of the branded drug market, and which the administration projects will save Americans more than $600 billion over a decade. The announcement was staged nine weeks before the midterms, into an affordability argument Democrats have been running against Republicans all year. Trump used it to press Congress: he said the company-by-company deals should be codified in statute so a future president cannot simply let them lapse. The most revealing moment came from inside his own cabinet. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., standing beside him, described how the deals got done — Trump calling him and CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz "every hour of the day" and making clear their jobs depended on delivering. Trump's answer, from the same event, was that he had not wanted to follow through: "I didn't want to fire a Kennedy. I wasn't going to do that." Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick tied the agreements to onshoring pharmaceutical production. The persistent criticism of the program is that the terms are not public. Democrats on the Finance, Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce committees have spent 2026 demanding the texts of the deals — Sen. Ron Wyden and 18 Senate Democrats introduced a Drug Deal Disclosure Act in April — and a Public Citizen analysis found that all 16 companies from the program's earlier rounds raised list prices on 272 products in the first months of 2026. No congressional reaction specific to the August 31 announcement had been recorded as of September 1; the Senate stood adjourned until September 14.

“I didn’t want to fire a Kennedy. I wasn’t going to do that.”
Donald Trump (R-FL) · Aug 31, 2026

A Fifteen-Foot Wall of Water Comes Down Bright Angel Creek at the Bottom of the Grand Canyon — Two Dead, About Fifteen Unaccounted For, 62 Airlifted Out, and Arizona's Delegation Answers in One Voice Across Party Lines

At about 2:30 p.m. Mountain time on Saturday, August 29, 2026, a flash flood tore down Bright Angel Creek at the bottom of Grand Canyon National Park, in the corridor that runs past Phantom Ranch and the lower North Kaibab Trail — the most heavily used inner-canyon route in the park, and one of the hardest places in the United States to evacuate. Hikers described a fifteen-foot wall of water arriving with almost no warning. One evacuee, Erica Viola, told ABC News: "We just heard people yell, 'Run, run, run!' And there's 40 of us running through this deep, muddy water, trying to make it to the bridge. Once we got to the bridge, that's when this 15-foot wall of water came through." The flood destroyed a footbridge, knocked out the trans-canyon water pipeline that serves visitors on the rim, and closed Phantom Ranch and the North Kaibab Trail. Because there is no road to the canyon floor, the rescue had to be flown: the National Park Service and the Arizona Department of Public Safety airlifted at least 62 people out over Saturday night and Sunday. By Monday, August 31, the Park Service had confirmed two deaths and said roughly fourteen to fifteen people "may be missing or unaccounted for," and was asking anyone who knew of hikers or backpackers in the Bright Angel Creek corridor on August 29 to call in. A flash flood watch remained in effect, with more monsoon storms forecast over already-saturated ground. The political reaction was notable mainly for what it was not: a fight. Gov. Katie Hobbs, Sen. Mark Kelly and Sen. Ruben Gallego — all Democrats — and Rep. Andy Biggs, a Republican whose politics overlap with theirs on almost nothing, all issued statements within roughly 24 hours of one another, each thanking the rescuers and directing people to the Park Service. Gallego, whose statement also addressed tribal constituents, said the flooded area does not include the Havasupai reservation and that no tribe members had been reported missing. Rep. Eli Crane, whose district contains the park, had toured both rims with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on August 28 — the day before the flood — for a briefing that included, among other things, strain on the park's core water infrastructure.

“Praying for everyone affected by the flash floods.”
Mark Kelly (D-AZ) · Aug 31, 2026

Aug 31, 2026· Updated

Trump White House Ballroom Construction

President Trump demolished the White House East Wing in October 2025 to build a 90,000-square-foot grand ballroom, estimated at $400 million and funded by private donors. The project has faced repeated legal challenges: a federal judge halted construction on March 31, 2026, ruling Trump needs congressional authorization; the National Capital Planning Commission approved the design 8-1 on April 2; an appeals court allowed work to continue on April 11; but on April 16, Judge Richard Leon again blocked above-ground construction, ruling "national security is not a blank check to proceed with otherwise unlawful activity" and rejecting the administration's argument that the ballroom was inseparable from underground security facilities. Trump called Leon a "Trump Hating" judge and the administration is expected to seek Supreme Court review.

“I am pleased to report that the United States Supreme Court has just ruled in favor of the Ballroom/Military Complex being built without any further contingency, doubt, or threat.”
Donald Trump (R-FL) · Aug 31, 2026

A "Meet the Press" Host Says Trump's Endorsements Have Had "Mixed Results" — and He Answers That She Will Be "Reported to the FCC for Rebuke or Punishment," Prompting the Commission's Lone Democrat to Reply That It Has No Such Power

On Sunday, August 30, 2026, "Meet the Press" moderator Kristen Welker said on the air that President Trump's primary endorsements this cycle had produced "mixed results" — a routine piece of election-season analysis nine weeks before the November 3 midterms. Trump answered on Truth Social by asking a federal regulator to act against her. Calling her "the Unpopular 'Hostess' of the once great Meet the Press, now considered Meet the Fake Press," he disputed the characterization — citing what he said were win rates of 100 percent for his endorsed Senate candidates and 98 percent for House candidates, and pointing to primary victories by Senate candidate Darline Graham and House candidate Mike Mazzei — and wrote: "Because of this purposeful inaccuracy, she will be reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment." He added that he hoped FCC Chairman Brendan Carr "and the fine people of his Commission, will take this Threat to our Country very seriously," and in a separate post wrote that "THE FAKE POLLS USED BY OUR CROOKED MEDIA ARE OUT OF CONTROL, AND SOMETHING MUST BE DONE ABOUT IT. FCC TO THE RESCUE!" The FCC has no such authority. Its own rules state that the Commission "cannot prevent the broadcast of any particular point of view," and it does not license individual journalists — it licenses stations. Anna Gomez, the Commission's only Democratic member and its most vocal internal critic of Carr's handling of broadcasters, said so directly within hours: "As I've said many times, the FCC has no authority to punish journalists this administration doesn't like. These threats to press freedom are dangerous. They undermine the foundation of our democracy, and they have no place in it." Carr, a Trump appointee, did not respond to CNN's request for comment. NBC News said Welker is "one of the best in the business" and that it stands behind her. The episode lands in the middle of a running fight over the FCC's posture toward broadcasters: Carr had already forced early license renewals on Disney's eight ABC stations after Trump publicly demanded ABC fire Jimmy Kimmel, a move ABC and Disney are now suing over on First Amendment grounds.

“Kristen Welker, the Unpopular 'Hostess' of the once great Meet the Press, now considered Meet the Fake Press, just stated that Donald Trump has 'mixed results' on his Endorsements of Candidates. Because of this purposeful inaccuracy, she will be reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment.”
Donald Trump (R-FL) · Aug 30, 2026

Aug 30, 2026· Updated

Trump Signs an Executive Order Creating a "U.S. Space Academy" on Par With West Point — and Colorado's Senator Answers That the Country Already Has One, "It's Called the U.S. Air Force Academy"

On August 28, 2026, at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, President Trump awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to the Artemis II crew and then signed an executive order establishing a U.S. Space Academy — a service academy he said would rank alongside West Point, Annapolis and the Air Force Academy, feeding graduates into the Space Force, NASA and the commercial space industry. The order does not actually create an academy. It creates a Presidential Commission on the United States Space Academy, chaired by the NASA administrator, with 120 days to recommend a governance structure, a curriculum, a location and the congressional action that would be required to stand the institution up. Trump said a site would be chosen "very shortly," and noted lawmakers were already lobbying for their own states. The reaction split along predictable lines but with an unusual geographic overlay. Rep. Brian Babin, whose Texas district includes Johnson Space Center, pitched Houston. Sen. John Hickenlooper — whose state hosts the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, the institution that already commissions Space Force officers — called the plan "duplicative, costly, and unserious." Rep. George Whitesides, the former Virgin Galactic CEO, took the proposal seriously enough to itemize what is missing from it: no congressional representation on the commission, no stated purpose distinct from existing universities, and no answer on where roughly $1 billion a year would come from. A congressionally mandated oversight body, the Air Force Academy Board of Visitors, had already recommended against a standalone institution earlier in 2026, suggesting a dedicated Space Force facility on the existing Colorado Springs campus instead.

“Another bold step by @POTUS to ensure America leads in space for generations to come. Let’s bring it to Texas!”
Brian Babin (R-TX) · Aug 30, 2026

Aug 30, 2026· Updated

ICE Arrests Parents at Danbury School Bus Stops in the First Week of School — Waiting Until the Kids Were on the Bus — and Connecticut’s Governor Says Trump Promised Governors He Would Not Do This

Over three days in late August 2026, as Danbury, Connecticut schools opened for the year, ICE agents detained close to 50 people in the city — 16 on Monday, at least nine on Tuesday and 25 on Wednesday, according to the advocacy group Danbury Unites for Immigrants. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said agents were arresting parents at school bus stops and had waited until children boarded the buses, so the children would return in the afternoon to find their parents gone. On August 26, Murphy joined Gov. Ned Lamont, Rep. Jahana Hayes (D-CT-05), Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz and Danbury Mayor Roberto Alves at Kennedy Park to condemn the operation. Lamont said Trump had personally told a gathering of governors earlier in the year that ICE would not be sent into cities that had not asked for help. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), traveling in Ukraine, issued a written statement. DHS rejected the mayor's allegation of racial profiling, said ICE "does not target schools," and said the operation had arrested people convicted of assault, weapons offenses, sexual assault, molestation of a minor and DUI. The Danbury operation is part of a documented rise in ICE arrests in states that did not request federal enforcement.

“Very few of them, only a fraction, maybe six or seven, have any kind of criminal history. In fact, they are seizing people. Many of them have legal status in this country.”
Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) · Aug 30, 2026

Aug 30, 2026· Updated

A Democratic Senator and a Republican Congressman Jointly Tell Hegseth to Reverse the 30 Percent Cut to U.S. Fighter Jets Committed to NATO — "Deterring Russia Is Far Less Costly Than Fighting a War With Russia"

On August 19, 2026, Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) and Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) sent a bipartisan letter to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth urging the Department to reverse planned reductions in the forces the United States commits to NATO operations in Europe. Earlier in the summer, U.S. European Command announced it would scale back its NATO commitment, including a roughly 30 percent cut to fighter jets, a reduction in reconnaissance aircraft, and the withdrawal of aerial refueling tankers. The lawmakers wrote that the decision and the speed of its implementation would weaken allied deterrence and send a troubling signal to Moscow at a moment of strain in the transatlantic relationship. The letter asked Hegseth to reconsider the cuts and to provide Congress, in writing by August 31, 2026, an explanation of how the United States intends to uphold its commitments to allied security. It arrives against a Congress that has already tried to fence in the drawdown: the FY2026 National Defense Authorization Act set a 76,000-troop floor for U.S. forces in Europe and, through a provision secured by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), requires the administration to consult Congress and allies before changing force posture there. Neguse and Bacon lead the bipartisan effort from opposite parties — Bacon, a retired Air Force brigadier general, has been among the most consistent Republican critics of the administration's Europe drawdown.

“I doubt that Congress will approve, at this critical moment, reduction in force structure in Europe when Putin is more dangerous and threatening than ever.”
Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) · Aug 30, 2026

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